


Barren

by Anonymous



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, Kid Skye | Daisy Johnson, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Parent Melinda May, Parent Phil Coulson, Post-Apocalypse, This came out of nowhere, all of the characters exist at the same time, and it might turn into something who knows, except for ward, no zombies, philindaisy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:07:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25192126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: ‘The worst part is not even remembering what they’ve lost.It’s knowing what else will soon be gone and being powerless to stop it.’Apocalypse AU where the characters find solace and light in eachother even when their world has gone to ruin.Abandoned. Rewritten, title is 'you don't even know me' by edgeoflights
Relationships: Alphonso "Mack" Mackenzie/Yo Yo Rodriguez, Jemma Simmons & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Lance Hunter/Bobbi Morse, Leo Fitz/Jemma Simmons, Phil Coulson & Melinda May & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Phil Coulson/Melinda May, Skye | Daisy Johnson/Antoine Triplett
Comments: 25
Kudos: 68
Collections: Anonymous





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This will have sporadic updates (a day to a few weeks) because it’s a side project, but I have MANY ideas for this so subscribe for email updates (:

As Skye stumbled among the rocks and metal pipes that stuck out from cement blocks that had once been a part of buildings hundreds of stories high, she spotted the only thing still standing in sight: a dilapidated billboard that still hadn’t been covered in spray painted tags. Half of the large poster plastered onto it still remained, showing a picture of a young girl on a man’s shoulders, both of them smiling in a way that was alien to Skye. Their faces were clean, absent of both the grime and the blood and the despair that tracked over every living person's face now.

OPEN FOR LEA- the sign screamed in large, red blocked letters; cut off by claw works ripping through the poster.

Lease. 

She almost wanted to laugh at that. 

The sign was just another reminder of how much society had changed. People used to lease things, trade shelter, for paper. _Paper_.

Now, shelter was only available if you had food or weapons. The paper money now littered the streets, faces of men who’d once been renowned in history now covered in dirt, forgotten, and ripped in half. 

Skye pulled her rapidly tiring body forwards, panting as the sun continued beating down on her.

She’d run out of water in the last city, and If she didn’t find more soon, she wasn’t going to last.

But she had to. To deliver the message.

As her boots crunching on the debris were the only sound echoing around the ghost city, she shivered even in the heat, feeling something cold and lost tracing her. The dirty, ruined echoes of buildings and lives surrounded her.

Most everything useful had been picked up by scavengers, but there were still remnants of something once happy, but now lost. She could pick them out among the wreckage, and tried not to think of what they’d at one point had been a part of.

A once-maroon couch, now a dusty brown from the sun weathering away at its dye, lay on its side, all of the stuffing removed from scavengers to make pillows and blankets for the nights, when people lost their limbs and heads because of the stabbing wind that came and somehow found its way through a persons cracks and froze them to death.

Skye could imagine a happy family, like the man and the child on the billboard, sitting on the couch and... she wouldn’t know. Watching TV? Laughing? Just talking, about... boys? Like a normal dad and daughter would.

Her father had never done that. Skye didn’t think he even knew her real age.

Lost in her thoughts, she tripped over... something. A blur(?).

“Fuck.” She muttered as she found her footing, her voice hoarse and scratchy from lack of hydration. “The fuck was that...” 

As she turned around, she yelped at a large dog with yellow, matted fur sitting patiently in front of her. 

“Hey?” Skye asked cautiously. She didn’t think there was anything left alive in Ghost Cities, or at least she’d never encountered anything.

The dog just cocked its head and stared at her with large blue eyes, panting eagerly.

“I don’t have anything to give you, I’m sorry.” Skye turned away to continue moving, but stopped and groaned at the whine from behind her. She whirled around to see the dog’s ears had flopped down, making it look adorable. 

“I don’t have anything. Best of luck to you.” She croaked and turned again to leave, sighing at the sound of the dog getting up and pitter-pattering behind her tentatively. It evidently wanted to come with her. 

She studied the dog currently grinning at her with a loose tongue. (How dare it grin in such a bleak situation?) It was an extra mouth to feed, but it was large, and had an intelligent gleam in its eyes. Maybe she could make it useful.

“Can you hunt?” Skye asked, expecting the lack of response she received. She sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. “The second you cause trouble, I’m dumping you in the next ghost city we see, you got it?”

Seeming to understand she’d said yes, the dog barked happily, the sudden loud noise reverberating against the hollow structures surrounding them.

“Let’s keep moving. I need water, and I’m guessing you do too.”

...

After finding an old water fountain in a more open area of the city, she refilled her canteen with the murky water and let the dog lap from the spout once she’d collected all she could.

Finding nothing else useful, she pulled her map out from her boot and unfolded it. Squinting to make out the faded ink, she traced the line she’d already scratched out and found the city she- they were in. She followed the line to the next city. 

One more until her target. Less than 24 hours if she didn’t stop except to sleep for a few hours.

And then... who knows. She certainly didn’t know. Someone was to meet her, and give her the code that let her know she could trust them to pass along the message.

And after that?

Her future was up in the air.

...

Four hours later, they were already many miles away from the Ghost city. 

The sun was beginning to set, and Skye was pushing herself more and more to reach the next city by nightfall, but her legs and lungs were burning from the hours without reprieve.

“So,” she panted, “What will I call you?” She asked the dog, who’d begun to droop and was lagging behind a little. “I wonder what your owner called you.”

The dog didn’t answer, obviously. Skye sighed. “What about Henri or Henrietta? Your hair is way too thick to even think of trying to check if you’re a boy or a girl, so we can call you Henri for now, since it’s gender neutral.”

Again receiving no response, Skye sighed, her throat hurting. “Cool. Henri.”

And the lonely pair continued stumbling off across the endless tan that was the parched desert sand.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> uhhhhh yes it's still daisy-centric but the rest of the team is coming promise

Thankfully, Skye and Henri arrived at the next Ghost City before nightfall, having barely a drop left to drink between the two of them but immediately finding a hose attached to what used to be a house.

As Skye poured the stream of water straight into her mouth, and then Henri’s, she took a moment to think. She had more than enough food for the journey to her target city, one of the few left alive in New Mexico; Santa Fe. On the way back, however… 

Her father had promised flippantly that the recipients of the message, a fairly renowned group called Hydra, would reward her kindly, but she didn’t understand why he’d ever have her receive anything valuable when he kept her hidden in a closet like something lower than a dog, feeding on scraps while he met with other high-profile businessmen. They were keen on getting their hands on the valuable medicine and drugs her father had monopolized and heavily guarded in his mansion and in various properties around Houston, Texas. Her home.

So why would he ever let her get any reward?

Skye stopped the hose and plopped down onto her back on the concrete, realizing: This was supposed to be a one way trip. She was expendable, of _course_ she was. They’d probably shoot her down the second she completed her mission.

She’d always known her father didn’t love her, but something about sending her on a suicide mission… 

But she had something that they wanted. The message. Something that her father was paid in thousands of weapons and ammunition to send to Santa Fe. 

Anything that valuable could certainly be used as leverage when she arrived. Maybe she could use this opportunity to trade the message for more food, or maybe shelter.

Maybe she could finally be free from her father. 

Renewed energy coursing through her body at the thought of freedom, and the fact that she had something she could use as leverage, Skye pulled herself back up to a sitting position, getting a faceful of Henri’s tongue. “Ew. Okay, stop, Henri. C’mon.” She pushed the happy dog away in annoyance, then sighed.

Tomorrow, either she would finally be able to escape the chains of her father’s influence, or she would die.

Either option was welcome, at this point.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daisy reaches Santa Fe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fuckkkkkk

After a quick stop for water and more food, Skye and Henri set off once again.

“I wonder what exactly I can get from Hydra by withholding the message. Food? Maybe I can ask for protection… I’m sure if my dad learns I’m alive, he’ll send a goon to come kill me. I know where some of his safe houses are… he doesn’t want that info getting out. After this, he has no use for me.”

Henri remained silent in response, trotting alongside her new owner.

“I don’t even understand why it’s so valuable, I mean…” Skye trudged along wearily, adjusting the wrap around her wrist. “I haven’t read it, you know. It’s just a bound letter in my backpack. Maybe I will before we share it. If I’m going to be holding something over Hydra’s heads, I might as well know what it is.”

Henri whined quietly.

“You think I should read it? Yeah, okay. I just hope it’s not rigged. That would suck  _ ass _ .”

Skye kept moving, stumbling every so often but righting herself before her prolonged exhaustion could force her to drop.

After another hour, Santa Fe’s taller buildings behind the city’s signature wall were finally in sight. Skye breathed a quiet sigh. “Finally.”

The two quickly reached the edge of town, which was mostly just camps set up around the border wall. Skye made her way through the bustling, impoverished tents and setups and stepped around a circle of dirty children to make her way to the nicer areas closer to the wall, bordered by guards.

Seeing everyone so sick and absent of basic human necessities made her nauseous, but in this world people had long ago stopped worrying about others. If you constantly tried to help other people, you wouldn’t survive. Skye’d learned that the day her mother had died.

She walked along the wall until she reached a large, cracked road into the city marked with a large once-white booth used for allowing passage into the city.

She then held her hand over her eyes so she could see clearer under the bright sun reflecting off of the coarse dirt and sand and headed to the checkpoint attached to the wall, a little nervous.

Her father had given her a code to use with Border Patrol when she arrived at Santa Fe that would allow her into the city.  _ Apparently _ (big surprise) the entire police force was slowly being bought out by Hydra. The code she had was one only she knew and would get her into the city illegally so she could deliver the message.

If, for some reason, she was caught trying to do this, she’d be beat to death.

Or at least until she wished she was dead.

Gritting her teeth, Skye walked up to the grimy, dusty window propped open. An older, sleazy-looking man holding a beer bottle probably holding its thirtieth refill of impure alcohol leaned over the side of the window frame. “Hey, little girl. You know what the punishment is for trying to sneak in.”

Skye rolled her eyes automatically, then shied downwards, remembering that he was authority. You never show anything other than respect and obedience towards authority. The days with contact only with stragglers and runaways had her losing her training from her father. “I’m not trying to sneak in. I-” She lowered her voice and glanced at another guard a few feet away. “I’ve got a code. From the Rising Tide.”

The man stared at her. “What?”

She squinted at him, and saw something akin to recognition in his eyes. “The wind in Houston has been carried over here,” she tried; stumbling a little over the code drilled into her head by her father. 

Almost immediately, the guard reacted with a nod and a knowing glint that made him seem far more intelligent than he’d first appeared to be.

He disappeared further into the booth and picked up his walkie-talkie and muttered something into it while Skye rocked back and forwards on her heels. After an uncomfortable minute of waiting, he leaned back over the window frame and looked down at her with a furrowed brow. “This way.” he said gruffly, and opened the non-descript door that led into the booth instead of the gate into the city. Skye narrowed her eyes as Henri whined. Maybe Hydra was having her take some sort of express way to the checkpoint? 

Having no other option, she and Henri followed the man reluctantly into the booth, sighing blissfully when the barely-alive air conditioning hit her face, causing the sweat sheening on her entire face and under her sun-shielding thick clothes to reflect the cooler temperature.

The man led her into a darker hallway, unseen from outside, that seemed to lead them inside the thick wall. Skye followed him through the flickering tunnel, Henri bumping against her leg and panting. They both needed water soon.

After a long minute of walking, they reached a door, which the man unlocked and then held open for her to enter. She scrunched her face but followed, hoping that Hydra wouldn’t just kill her and then take the message.

She entered through the doorway, but before she could take a look around the new room, a rough sack was thrown over her head and she was plunged into darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: We meet a couple of familiar rebels.


	4. Chapter 4

The first thing Skye was aware of was the cold.

Actual cold, not the dusty fans in refuges she’d stopped in. She hadn’t felt a chill like this… since her father’s house.

At this thought, she began to panic in the darkness under whatever rough sack was over her head. Had he come for her? Was the code wrong? Did Hydra-

Her thoughts were interrupted by the bag being tugged off of her. She blinked at the sudden bright light, disoriented.

It took her a second to understand what was around her. She became rapidly aware of the cold metal chair she was sitting on, and her hands were cuffed to a matching table in front of her. 

She squinted as her blurry vision cleared to reveal the room she was in. It was a square room, not too big. Hexagonal metal plates covered the walls and a single, bright light was the single source of light in the windowless room. Two seconds later, she noticed two men standing on the other side of the table. One was wearing a suit and was regarding her with sharp blue eyes. The taller one had his arms crossed and was wearing clean black hunting clothes and had a shotgun swung over his shoulder, which Skye eyed nervously.

They said nothing.

“Hi?” She asked uncertainly.

“What’s your name?” Suit-guy asked firmly. 

She frowned at him. “Skye.”

“Last name?”

“Just… Skye.” She didn’t want to reveal her last name as Zabo; not when she wasn't certain of the situation and not wanting to be tied to her father.

“Where’s the message?” Shotgun-guy asked bluntly. Skye flinched before she attempted to school her face into a calm expression. “What message?” She asked, trying and failing to keep the waver out of her voice.

“Skye.” Suit guy put his hands on the table and she met his eyes. “This is important. We need the message.”

“Are you Hydra?” Skye asked suspiciously in return.

He sighed and shook his head. “No.”

“Then why do you want it?”

“It’s…” the two men exchanged glances. “It’s an instruction to build something very dangerous. Hydra wants it to build soldiers. They want to take over the weaker cities by force, just like they did with Santa Fe.” 

She stared at him, not particularly surprised. If it came from her father, then it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary for it to be something to do with human experimentation and enhancements.

“We need the message.”

“How do I know you won’t use it to make super-soldiers?” Skye asked.

“We’re going to keep it out of Hydra’s hands. Burn it, probably.”

“And who are you?”

“SHIELD.”

Skye’s eyes widened. She’d heard of SHIELD from her father’s shouting upstairs; some kind of resistance against Hydra that was ‘constantly getting in the way’ of his plans.  _ The enemy of her enemy was her friend? _

Even if she wanted to help them, she needed the message instructions to take to Hydra. Even if they were trying to make supersoldiers, she needed the leverage. It was a ticket to a better life away from her father and any filthy city or person he'd ruined. “What happens if I don’t give it to you?”

“We’ll take it by force,” The shotgun-man spoke up. 

“ _ Mack, _ ” Suit-guy chastised. Skye got the feeling he was in charge. He turned to her. “We don’t want to, but if it comes to that, we will. But honestly? We need your help.”

Skye stared blankly at him. “With what?”

“You’re Zabo’s messenger, right? You must know secrets about him, The Rising Tide, and Hydra that we can use.” 

She did know a couple, but not because she was her father’s messenger but because he never cared if his daughter overheard his meetings because he knew she would never tell out of fear of him. If SHIELD found out she was his daughter, though, they'd probably kill her on the spot, or send her to the camps. The SHIELD resistance was known for being ruthless. Either way, she'd be screwed.

But now she was miles away from her father, and- “I'm his messenger, yeah. I can help you, but I need protection from him and Hydra.”

“Done.”

“Done?” The man named Mack looked at the suit-guy incredulously. “Seriously, Coulson? Just like that? She could be a trap, or lying.”

“If she is, we can take care of her. But she had the code that Hydra was looking for. If she’s legitimate, and I suspect she is, she’s useful.”

The two men turned back to her, and Coulson took her handcuffs off. “Ready?”

She rubbed her wrists. “One thing.”

“Yes?”

“Where the everloving fuck is my dog?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :3

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading <3
> 
> Do you mind maybe leaving a kudos or a review? Thank you!


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